


Gauntlet

by ForgottenDream12



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 06:02:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15857697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForgottenDream12/pseuds/ForgottenDream12
Summary: After Tony uses the infinity gauntlet to bring everyone back, he mourns the loss of Steve who he hadn't managed to revive.





	Gauntlet

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [victory/defeat](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15065165) by [Sunnyzhp22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunnyzhp22/pseuds/Sunnyzhp22). 



Tony wasn’t feeling much like celebrating. Today the world had been fixed. He had put the gauntlet on over Steve’s dead body and wished as hard as he could for everything to go back to how it was before three billion people turned to dust. He put as much desire into his wish of Peter and everyone else coming back as possible. Shockingly, he hadn’t turned to dust himself like he had expected. He had been sure the stones would have destroyed him even if they did grant him what he wanted.

Yet, even as he clinched his eyes tight nothing happened to him. The first sign that anything had happened at all was Peter’s voice calling for him. “Mr. Stark!” Then there had been hands ripping off the gauntlet from his arm and everything had been okay for a moment. He was exhausted but three billion people were restored and it had been amazing. At least until he looked down and saw Steve still laying there, motionless in death as before. The heroes who had died battling Thanos did not come back.

So here he was, drinking his sorrows and maybe, if he was being honest, crying just a little. There were people he knew lost today, Natasha and Clint being two of them but mainly he couldn’t stop thinking about Steve. He could blame that on a lot of things but he knew why it really was. Tony had loved him even if he never said it out loud to anyone. Rhodey had known though and god bless him for never saying anything about it after Serbia.

He wondered if it hurt worse right now because he had never said anything or if it would have felt more painful if he had told Steve. If, beyond belief, the solider from the forties had accepted him and he had happier memories of him to mourn now. Perhaps there wasn’t even a scale of pain he should be considering and it all would have hurt equally. He lost Steve either way and his heart hurt in a way it hadn’t since the Arc Reactor was taken out of his chest. Or really since Steve had left him freezing in that bunker.

Lifting his head from his hands, he leaned back into the couch to stare around his workshop. The Iron Man armors stood proudly displayed in their cases. He felt sick just looking at them. His hand shot forward and grabbed the bottle of Vodka from the coffee table in front of him. Gulping some of the atrocious tasting liquid down his throat he then threw the empty bottle at one of the cases. He should have been faster, should have been able to stop Steve from taking that hit for him. For him! He had an armor to protect him regardless of how broken down it had been at the time. Steve had nothing of the sort.

Slumping back down into the well-worn couch, he ran a hand across his face to wipe the tears away. It had been hours since the battle ended. This hurt would heal like all the rest eventually. By that he meant that in time he would bury it as deeply as possible and never try to think about it again. For now though he let himself weep for a love lost, a friend gone. He was sure it wasn’t a pretty sight and he had no plans to let someone see him like this. Things, thankfully, never turned out how he planned though.

“Tony?” The voice came out of nowhere and it wasn’t FRIDAY. The AI wouldn’t mess with him like that. All he had to thank for it were drunk hallucinations. He twitched but didn’t move from his position on the couch, eyes closed and dead to the world. “Tony!” A hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him forward out of his pity party. His eyes few open, a gauntlet forming around his hand but nothing could have surprised him more than what he saw before him.

Steve, looking as healthy as ever, was crouching in front of him. He looked up at him with clear blue eyes and Tony felt one last tear slide down his face. “Steve? How-?” It didn’t matter, he cut himself off and threw himself into the blonde’s arms. He was too drunk to care how foolish he looked. “Steve! Steve!” His hands claws at the uniform until he had managed to find himself into the other man’s lap. Spreading kisses over his face he moaned out drunkenly, “You’re here!” Backing up slightly, he saw the shock on Steve’s face. He rubbed his face to try to get the wetness away and then glanced up. “ _How_ are you here?”

“I...I don’t know.” It was quiet for only a moment before Steve pulled back from Tony, looking around the room wildly. “Thanos! What happened with Thanos?” Finding nothing in the room, but eyeing the broken glass in front of the Iron Man case, he turned back to the smaller man. “I got hit and…blackness. There was nothing. Then and light. You were calling me and here I am.” His hand rose and caressed Tony’s face gently, wiping away the stray tear he hadn’t managed to get earlier. Slowly, he traced down his cheek to his jaw and finally to his lips. “You were kissing me.”

Tony didn’t blush, hadn’t in years, but right then he lit up like a fireworks show. “Th-Thanos is dead.” It had been a secondary wish, lives returned and the mad titan dead to have normalcy back. Which for superheroes, really wasn’t that normal but he’d take it. He had no plans to respond to Steve’s last statement and before he was questioned on it his work desk started to beep. He turned his head to see what it was, having already muted FRIDAY. Lit up on one of his hologram screens was Bruce’s face. “Answer.”

Bruce’s voice came over FRIDAY’s speakers, “Tony! The team’s bodies are disappearing. Steve’s is gone and so is Natasha. I-what is going on?” Just as he started to ramble on more, Tony heard another beeping begin and this time a symbol of a black widow appeared on his screen. Quieting Bruce, he answered the call and heard for voice he never expected to hear again.

 

* * *

 

Strange had been the one to ‘figure’ it out. Tony thought he was just guessing as there was no real way to tell how the gauntlet worked its magic. The people who had been stored in the soul stone had been returned immediately but the ones who had been truly dead had taken more time for the gems to restore them. Strange had said this was because Tony had been the wielder. When Thanos used the stones they were quick because he had the energy to back it up but Tony would have died with that much energy being drained from him in one instance. Tony’s theory was that it was just the universe fucking with him by delaying their return.

Everyone who died in the battle had been brought back, even the civilian casualties. It was like Thanos never happened at all, besides the mental scaring of course. He was sure therapists would be making a bundle for quite a few years on this event. The people who were brought back in this manner described the experience similarity to how Steve did. Blackness and then the light with Tony Stark calling them back. Apparently he had a well-known voice. He supposed the one good thing that had come from this mess was a boost in his reputation. Well, that along with his relationship with Steve.

For the first few days as people reappeared at a steady pace it was awkward between them. All Tony had felt like doing was sleeping, but the few times he had ventured out of his rooms Steve hadn’t been able to meet his eyes. Apparently though, Steve wasn’t the type to let things fester for long. Very unlike Tony who would sooner jump ship then talk things out. Fortunately for both of them this wasn’t an option for him when Steve corned him to talk about ‘feelings.’

Somehow he had been convinced to fess up and admit that yes he loved Steve to hell and back. What Tony hadn’t expected was for Steve to also confession the same about him. They had decided together to give it a go between them. At every disagreement Tony had thought Steve would change his mind and decide he wasn’t worth the effort. Yet here they both were, together still and happier for it.

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr](https://forgottendream12.tumblr.com/) for sneak peaks and announcements.


End file.
